Chris Manning is a co-owner and video producer for TheLakersNation.com. In addition to his "LD2k" fan-video productions, Chris is working as the "Production Manager" for HS3; A Digital, Brand Strategy and Marketing company based in L.A. which represents the digital entities of numerous high-profile athletes. You can follow him on Twitter for a wide array of sports/Lakers talk!

LAL4LIFE

No comment

lakers4life

great interview!

kobe124

This interview took longer than when i’m taking a dump.

ryguy2303

Something must be in the works!

lakaluva

Breaking News: Bill Artest is a Laker. Sike! Im just funning…LOL

http://lakers.topbuzz.com Mamba2410

He had basically “no comment” on this interview…and yet, saying no comment can actually be a comment, you just have to look at it in a different way…

Mitch4Pres

thanks for being so open ron

Fantastic5LAL

No comment aka Im going to the Lakers

Lakers 24 7

Q: Ron, what happened when you signed on MySpace?
A: No Comment

http://lakers.com k0be da 1 andonly

no homo LOL

lakerschamps09

well that kind of attitude lead him not to opt out… he should say trade me to say already while not takin lo…LOL

DCLAKER

Please post some more information about other players,this Artest crap is depressing.

gugy

I feel Artest is coming to LALALakersLAnd!

Now, who os leaving? Odom? Vlad? Luke?

I hope Vlad and Luke, but that will not happen. Unfortunately seems that Odom is gone. We’ll see.

Peanut Butter Spread

Ugh by this point, I don’t even want Artest on the Lakers anymore. This stuff is seriously getting irritating with all the coy remarks, the fac that he didn’t opt out, and all those trade rumors involving LO … seriously, I’m tired of this crap that he and the Kings are pulling. I don’t even know why the Lakers are even considering a trade for Artest, if there was ever even a consideration, but all these reports from the SacBee about every tiny detail from “bill bill” to “some lower member of the Buss family” is getting ridiculous.

I just want to see LO, Pau, Drew gelling together before the Lakers make any rash decisions.

Peanut Butter Spread

And he has no comment, NOW, but it was okay when he “emailed” Marc Stein to personally gripe about being “misled” and regretting not having opted out or how he would never take a paycut to be on a championship team?

I like Ron, I’m sure he’s a good guy, but this trade thing with the King (ugh) is not making me a happy camper.

Vahe

think about it if he knew that he was 100% going to be on kings next season he would say yes definently. he’s either having a little bit of fun or he knows that the staff are up to something.

dansp5

Do not get artest. We need to see Odom play with bynum and pau.
Just trade vlad for reggie evans and pick up garbajosa and we are set for a c-ship

seriously, what was the point of even posting this? you guys are getting tired and i’m tired of coming on here and getting NOTHING!!!!
GO LAKERS!!!!

BruinLaker

[Comment ID #45012 Will Be Quoted Here]

I completely agree. This is frustrating and there’s been no news on the LA side.

west213

[Comment ID #45018 Will Be Quoted Here]

no comment my pe nis

http://myspace.com/brittnay678 Brittnay

I couldn’t agree more with this post. :]

“I think one thing most Lakers fans agree on is that the small forward position will be key for next year’s Lakers. Where the disagreement is exactly how to deal with that. But some think they have the answer.

On this blog, in Lakers forums all over the Internet, on talk radio, seemingly everywhere there is a fascination among some Lakers fans with bringing Ron Artest to the LA. And I don’t get it. I understand being unsure how well Odom will do as the small forward, it’s a legitimate question and concern.

But Ron Artest is not the answer.

Let me give you my thinking on this. And to start I’ll grant two points to the pro-Artest fans:

1) Artest is a better defender. He is. But not by as much as you think. Last year opposing threes guarded by Ron Artest shot 51.5% (eFG%) and had a PER of 16.4 — those are not great numbers. Odom spent far less time matched up against threes, but he held them to 45.5% and a PER of 14.6. I don’t think those numbers would bear out if Odom spent more time guarding threes, like I said I’ll grant Artest is a better defender. But the gap is not as big as most think, Odom’s length creates problems for opposing threes.

2) Artest is a better three point shooter. Artest shot 38% and 35% from three the last two years, Odom shot 29% and 27%. Artest would be better at stretching the defense in the half court. That said, Artest is not the three point shooter many think he is. Go look at Artest’s hot zone shot chart at NBA.com — Artest shot 47% from three from the top of the arc, but no higher than 30% anywhere else on the arc. He can shoot the three from “his spot” but is not a classic three-point shooter. (If you look at Odom’s Hot Zones chart you’ll see he was 11 of 22 on corner threes this season — if he works on that this offseason could he keep up that pace over more attempts?)

To me, there are far more negatives than positives with Artest.

1) He is a worse shooter than Odom. Last season, using traditional FG%, Odom shot 52% and Artest 45%. Use eFG% (to account for three point shooting) and Odom is still 5% higher. The reason is Artest takes a lot of jumpers (66% of his shots last year) while Odom gets to the rim (44% of Odom’s shots are jumpers). And, on all those jumpers, Artest shoots just 3% higher than Odom. Look again at Artest’s hot zones shooting chart — he is not a good midrange guy at all. Bottom line, Artest is like Iverson in that he takes a lot of shots to make his points, he is not an efficient scorer.

2) Artest is not someone who has played well inside an offensive system. There are things he does well, but what are the Lakers going to do when Artest decides he should just take his man (on the post or on the wing) and steps outside the offense? The Lakers offense was impressive last year because everyone played within the system. Do you really think Artest is going to do that for a season and playoffs, when that has not been his MO in the past?

3) Lamar Odom is a much better rebounder than Artest. I don’t think anyone would question this — last season Odom grabbed 15.6% of available rebounds when on the floor, Artest was at 8.6%. You can say that a healthy Bynum will soak up some of those, but for a team that wants to get out and run having control of the boards will be key. Odom led some of the best Laker breaks this year by grabbing the board and bringing the ball up himself, and we need more of that not less.

4) If you think Odom takes games off…. Artest is worse. Far worse. It is not a crunch time thing with him, it is a week at a time thing. He does not bring it every night. Ask Kings fans about this. And this brings us to….

5) So this is the veteran image you want in the locker room? The Lakers are still a young team, a team that by all reports bonded more last season than any Laker team has at least since the three-pete era, and maybe longer. And into that you do want to bring in a true wild card? Some will make the argument that Phil has dealt with these types of personalities before, he kept Rodman in check in Chicago. But he had Jordan ad Pippen and other veterans (plus Jack Haley) to keep him in line. Who in the Laker locker room is going to step up to Artest? Kobe, Fisher and……

The bottom line for me is that the slim advantages you gain from Artest in a couple areas are far outweighed in other areas. He has the chance of being a big problem, if you don’t think so look at his track record. Do you really want to take that risk?

I’m not sure Odom is the answer. I’m in the camp of keeping the roster largely intact, starting the year with Odom at the three and seeing how it works out. If it does not, see who is available at the trading deadline. Or, even let him walk and see if you can save the money (if someone like Ariza really steps up). Any of that is better than bringing in Ron Artest.”

http://myspace.com/brittnay678 Brittnay

LOL, our team made it to the NBA FINALS without our starting center!!!!! What more could people want. LOL how can we not win with Bynum Odom and Gasol on the floor at the same time. Oh yea forgot Kobe ;]

osm0nd

The thing about waiting to trade later is that the Kings will probably be more reluctant. Let’s say a front court of LO, drew, and pau doesn’t work out, why would the Kings want to help us get better in the middle of the season and risk losing a playoff spot? They’re much more willing to do the trade right now just because they’re not sure if they’re really helping us by giving up Artest for LO.

varsityoptimism

DUMB!

http://myspace.com/brittnay678 Brittnay

So what if the Kings get reluctant and don’t want to do it anymore. Whats the worst that can happen to the Lakers guys? We get deep into the playoffs again and have a great chance at winning the Finals. If we don’t get the trophy and when Artest opts out next season, which everyone knows he will, then we get him. Why mess up something that clearly works?

domz

[Comment ID #45027 Will Be Quoted Here]

Wow. You are a great analyst. I agree to all you have said. It’s just LO is underrated but I can admit he is inconsistent but not that much when Pau came around. So the bottom line is I also dont want artest to come if it will mean the loss of LO. Id rather have someone like Prince or Posey.

Rpoc

“2) Artest is not someone who has played well inside an offensive system. There are things he does well, but what are the Lakers going to do when Artest decides he should just take his man (on the post or on the wing) and steps outside the offense? The Lakers offense was impressive last year because everyone played within the system. Do you really think Artest is going to do that for a season and playoffs, when that has not been his MO in the past?”

Actually, I wouldn’t mind someone stepping out of the offense in the playoffs just take advantage of their man when the other team’s defense clamps down on your offense so that you can no longer score 100+ points on easy buckets a la Nuggets/Jazz series. The Spurs series was an exception because their offense stagnates like no tomorrow even against bad defensive teams, but a big difference was that Kobe was clicking shooting 50% in one of his best playoff performances in a playoff series. Pau and Odom were underwhelming overall, especially Pau.

This is what Pierce, KG, and Allen did. Three guys who can take their man one on one in crunch time is highly advantageous.

1) How many times did we see Pierce one on one? Too many times for me.
2) Gasol and Turiaf couldn’t handle KG one on one.
3) To sum it all up, Game 4’s last points were decided from him driving to the basket on his own.

We had Kobe unable to click overall, Pau clearly bothered by the frontcourt of the Celtics just like he was with the Spurs, and Odom never made his stamp except that beginning part of Game 4.

So what did we have? Periods of 7+ minutes of NO SCORING! The touted best offense/passing team in the league could not score when the passing lanes were closed.

GT

I hear some people mentioning how LO has superior FG percentage and better rebounding than Artest. But don’t forget that LO was playing PF last season and when Bynum comes back,he will be playing SF (i.e. further away from the basket).

His FG% and rebounding are due to take a dive. Seeing how he shoot in the finals against the Celtics, I really have no confidence in Odom’s 3point or field goal shooting at all (remember all those missed open shots and how we gave away a 24 point lead by missing open shot after open shot?).

At least Ron Artest (theoretically) can slow down Paul Pierce (or any star SF) one-on-one and perhaps knock down a few open jumpers of his own.

2inthepink1inthestink

[Comment ID #45027 Will Be Quoted Here]

That was a good write up but I think your underestimating artest and overestimating LO. Of course Lo’s fg% is going to be higher he plays the 4 not 3. I mean for Gods sake kwame brown has a higher fg% than kobe does. Should we trade kobe for kwame? Also the fg% isn’t a fair comparison bc your taking the best player for a team which gets doubled teamed a lot compared to Lo who is at best the 3rd option who never gets double teamed. We score artest we win the ship this year, we keep Lo we don’t get out of the west…

ICE CREAM MAN

[Comment ID #45041 Will Be Quoted Here]

Good observation. I am one who wants to see how the Lakers do without messing up the team, but also one who doesn’t mind a trade/free agent here or there.

As far as LO, he is dominant if Pau is productive but when Pau’s game is off, so is LO. He feeds off him so the defense pretty much kills 2 birds with one stone, if they throw at the right bird.

Shawn

Screw Artest and keep team together

D Lo

you cannot compare a 1st/2nd option SF on an otherwise bad team to a 3rd option PF on a great team!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! those numbers are worthless. remember that having Kobe and Pau on your team gives you easy opportunities galore on offense yet lamar only took advantage some of the time. rons eyes would light up and go nuts (in a good way!) if he had the same opportunities that odom had!

on top of that lamar would only guard the other teams SF when they aren’t that good a player. ron guards the ginobilis, pierces, T-macs, lebrons, and melos of the world. lamar guarded none of those guys.

of course lamar gets more rebounds and points at the rim HE PLAYED CLOSE TO THE BASKET!

that long rant was a really stupid stat comparison up there. it’s too long to quote. you all saw it. it’s completely ridiculous.

lalball81

You guys know he put that post in quotations right? It’s obviously not his post.

Anyway, I do agree with it though. I truly think we’ll be losing too much if we give up LO, it will mess with the chemistry, we’ll lose a lot of rebounding, we’ll lose versatility, etc. The roster needs minor tweaks, not an overhaul. Get Posey and call it good.

If all of us are annoyed @ this imagine what LO is going through. I wonder if he is not traded, how will he come back to the Lakers with his whole heart. I can’t wait until all this stuff is over with. Trade luke and Vlad, That’s it!

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With the Lakers off to a poor start, trade rumors have begun to swirl around Kobe Bryant, leading many to speculate if he'll leave for greener pastures. Kobe puts those rumors to rest in his interview with Yahoo Sports.

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With the Lakers off to a poor start, trade rumors have begun to swirl around Kobe Bryant, leading many to speculate if he'll leave for greener pastures. Kobe puts those rumors to rest in his interview with Yahoo Sports.